Our Censors

(Star) LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

September 1, 1991

A READER wrote to observe that a Franciscan priest who had sexual relations with young troubled boys at a home for runaways that he ran in New York City was not in prison. In fact, unable to find a diocese in North America willing to take him, he has left his order and will join a diocese in India. The church must assume, I suppose, that the Indian people do not find child molesting offensive.

However, that is not the entire story. The priest is the Rev. Bruce Ritter, a member of the Meese Commission on pornography and a crusader against pornography. But it should not shock us to learn of this connection, given the behavior of members of the censorship community in America.

Jimmy Swaggart, televangelist and strident censor of what others may read and see, is accused of paying prostitutes to pose for his leering camera. Brother televangelist Jim Bakker is convicted of fraud, accused of bribery, adultery and homosexual encounters, and sits in federal prison. Doug Danziger, Fort Lauderdale Vice Mayor (an appropriate term), who led the fight to eliminate Spring Break and adult nightclubs from his city, is revealed to be listed in the records of a local prostitute, and resigns. Charles Keating, facing federal charges of looting Lincoln Federal Savings in California, is the founder of Citizens for Decent Literature and is a longtime anti-pornography crusader.

It is time for us to take a closer look at those among us who would act as censors. These are sick people. It seems that the ones who scream the loudest for control over what the rest of us would see, hear or read are the ones who need the closest scrutiny.